Quinnipiac Terrace (QT), a public housing project on the shore of the Quinnipiac River, is in the midst of a dramatic $65+ million transformation from densely concentrated barracks to roomier, pastel townhouses.

Demolition crews make way for construction of Quinnipiac Terrace's Phase II townhouses.

New townhouses replace the original Quinnipiac Terrace complex constructed in 1941.

"I'm so happy that these buildings are going to be gone," said Brenda Lopez, a former Q Terrace resident who just spent her first Thanksgiving with her kids in her newly renovated QT home. Construction should be complete within 18 months, said Jimmy Miller, Executive Director of the Housing Authority of New Haven (http://www.newhavenhousing.org/).

The project will add 79 apartments to 81 built in phase I for a total of 160 apartments that replace the 256 units of the original 1941 development. Only 150 of the apartments were occupied when the city won a federal grant called HOPE VI to rebuild the project, and some of those families have moved back into the completed half of the development.

HUD pledged $20 million through its HOPE VI program, which allowed the city to tear down not just Quinnipiac Terrace and Rockview Apartments in Fair Haven, but also the Winter Gardens and Sheffield Manor near West Rock. The state kicked in $37.5 million in low-income housing tax credits through the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and $4 million for environmental cleanup of the site. The Housing Authority is contributing $2.9 million and the city of New Haven $5.6 million.

The revitalization project includes a 5,500 square foot community center with a management office and improvements to nearby Dover Park. A nonprofit agency called Elm City Congregations Organized (ECCO) will build 33 two-family homes on the site and will require them to be owner occupied. That stipulation will further the fabric of the neighborhood by adding homeowners to the mix.

Content Archived: March 21, 2011